Hands-Free Hold

I have started to remove my hands from the dowel when I ask Kastle to hold it. With this change, comes some negative marker training. I am now not only positively marking when he takes/holds the dowel but negatively marking when he drops it on the ground. He caught on fairly quickly but he is not too thrilled when I'm displeased with him so he took this session very seriously. It made for a fast progression :-)

Obedience, Article Indication, Hold - Basement Training

Obedience
Worked on stand from various position around me - in front and beside me. Also on his downs and sits in front, beside and while moving. His heeling has backtracked as he is now trying to anticipate the reward and when I will be walking forward. I am therefore rewarding after only 1-2 steps and in a different direction (out and away from my left side) than he is used to as well.

Article Indication
Introduction to laying down (indicating) on the article (carpet sample square). I started out by crouching down and encouraging him into the carpet square - my posture and my verbal cued him to down with the carpet between his front legs. Then I started to ask him to move by me and do it on his own (with me there to offer a reminder when needed). First time went really well!

Hold
I worked on his dowel hold at the end of the training session, when he was hot, tired and panting so it was not the greatest and therefore short as well. I had to make it clear he needed to hold firm even though he was panting and he got the hang of it fine.

Merry Christmas!

This is Kastle's first Christmas. I was really excited to start my tradition of giving him a gift to unwrap on his own :-)

Pawprints

White Christmas....Eve

Oddly enough, it's the end of December, in Michigan, and there has been no snow. Well, Christmas Eve there was. A tiny amount and it was sunny and beautiful so it didn't stay long but long enough to get the dogs out to run and have fun in the wonderful weather! Kastle is incredibly springy, athletic and agile and a lot of fun to get action photos of while trying to catch a frisbee.

Key here might be trying...

 

Sometimes he succeeds though ;-)

He is a brave pup...or dumb. Still undecided hehe.

Jason had a hard time keeping the ball and frisbee (and his arms, fingers, hands and sometimes face) out of Kastle's eager jaws.

 

 

There were a lot of amusing maneuvers happening!

 

All four dogs lost the frisbee! However, everyone gave up and left...except Kastle who stuck it out until he found it to bring back! :-)

 

Moving in tandem.

 

Race!

He can jump so high.

Ike falls down a lot...

...luckily Kastle is always there for back up! hehe

 Everyone had a blast and then settled down for the afternoon.

Sleepy Saturday

I love his feet <3

Similarities

I used to have a Dutch Shepherd, named Madix, that did this funny thing with his round toys - he'd hold them in his mouth and flip them onto his head. It made me laugh and laugh. I thought I'd never see that again but then...

He was a little too excited at first and I got this:

Love the sillies!

The Basjes Huis Brothers (Kastle at 7 months) and Their Achievements

Kastle passed the AKC STAR Puppy Test in September but he just received his medal and certificate.

Little goober head.

Here he is with his half-brother, Ike with Ikie's SchH I plaque.

After their hard-working poses, we let them run around like crazy puppies. It was really interesting. At one point, Jason went back to the truck for something and Ike went with him, Kastle stayed with me - without any commands to have them do that. We also played with them with separate balls in close proximity and they each retrieved their own ball back to their own owner. It was really neat to see how clear they are about who belongs to who. Plus, their play is really balanced and fun to watch. They push and shove and give and take equally, neither is fighting for dominance - they're both just out to have a good time and play, but play hard. Fun boys.

This photo shows the contrast of browns in Ike and Kastle. Ikie's tan and Kastle is obviously red - love the differences.

Crash!!!

The boys with their Elite K-9 balls LOL

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kastle - he looks so solid and handsome to me :-)